Author Archive | Shannon Nordstrom

The ABA Center for Professional Responsibility is now accepting nominations for the 2021 Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award.

The Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award honors an individual whose contributions in the professional responsibility field evidence the highest level of dedication to legal professionalism. It recognizes career commitments in areas such as legal ethics, disciplinary enforcement and lawyer professionalism.

The deadline for nominations is December 31, 2020.

More information about the Award and a link to the nomination form can be found here:

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/initiatives_awards/awards/aboutthemichaelfranckaward1/

If you have any questions regarding the nomination process, please contact Stephanie Custard at stephanie.custard@americanbar.org.

Click to view the September 2020 President’s Update.

View the August President’s Update here.

Report of the Nominating Committee

In accordance with the Bylaws of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, the Nominating Committee, consisting of Immediate Past President Allison Martin Rhodes, Lynda Shely, Ellen Pansky, Donald Campbell, and Ronald Minkoff has met, deliberated, and now proposes the following slate of Officers and Directors for 2020-2022, each of whom has agreed to serve if elected:

President-Elect:    Brian S. Faughnan

Secretary:           Trish Rich

Treasurer:           Tyler Maulsby

Directors:            Frank Maher (second term)

Sari Montgomery

David Majchrzak

Balloting for these positions will take place at the Annual Meeting on August 13 – 15, 2020, which will take place online this year in light of public health concerns.

President-Elect Shannon Nordstrom automatically becomes President at the close of the 2020 Annual Meeting.

You can find the full 2020 nominating committee report at the link.

The proposed Amended and Restated Bylaws approved by the Board are now posted on the website. Thank you to everyone involved. A clean copy of the proposed Amended and Restated Bylaws, a red-lined copy, and a memo explaining key changes are posted on the website under the About tab, then APRL By-Laws tab. You can go directly to that page with this link. The proposed Amended and Restated Bylaws will be the subject of a vote at the January 25, 2019 lunch-time business meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Congratulations to APRL member Mark Harrison, who was recently honored as a founding “Emeritus Board Inductee” member for Teach for America (TFA) Phoenix at its 2018 Celebration Dinner, along with two others.

“Knowing that we would not be where we are today without a history of champions in the community, we are pleased to announce the founding class of our Emeritus Board,” said Katie Tennessen Hooten, executive director of TFA Phoenix.  “We honor these individuals for their decades of support, advocacy, and life-long commitment to achieving educational equity here in Arizona.” Harrison chaired the first board of Teach for America – Phoenix from 1994 to 1996 after his daughter, Jill, had served as a Teach for America corps member in southern Louisiana in 1991. “Seeing the special bond established between Jill and her students inspired him to bring the TFA mission to Phoenix,” the TFA nomination noted.

APRL member Bruce Green, ethics lawyer and professor, is the 2018 Michael Franck Award recipient from the ABA Center on Professional Responsibility. Bruce is well known to APRL as a longtime member and contributor to all things APRL (the 2008 annual meeting at Fordham is just an example). As longtime APRL-ite Ellen Yaroshefsky at Cardozo School of Law wrote “Bruce Green has been one of the most significant voices in legal ethics in the last 30 years.” His numerous scholarly accomplishments include articles in law reviews, legal periodicals, books and other legal writings.  As a highly sought-after speaker, he has participated in hundreds of programs both nationally and internationally.

Bruce will receive the ABA Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award on May 31, 2018 during the 44th National Conference on Professional Responsibility in Louisville, KY, where he will also moderate a panel entitled Lies, Damned Lies and ‘Alternative’ Facts.

APRL member, Heather L. Rosing, was recently elected to serve as the first President of the California Lawyers Association (CLA). As the nation’s second-largest professional association for attorneys, CLA is the new home of the Sections of the State Bar of California, as well as the California Young Lawyers Association (CYLA), effective January 1, 2018. In October of 2017, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 36 into law, effectively separating some of the professional promotion activities of the State Bar of California into CLA, a private non-profit entity. The organization’s mission to promote professional advancement of attorneys practicing in California. Ms. Rosing is Chief Financial Officer and Shareholder of Klinedinst PC, a business law firm with five offices across the West Coast. She currently serves as the President of the California Bar Foundation, California’s largest scholarship resource for diverse law students and is highly active in the legal community. Having served as Vice President of the State Bar of California, she provides a unique perspective in the makeup of the state’s legal community.

The ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility has issued its proposed changes to the Model Rules on Advertising, click here to view.  In the years leading up to this, APRL requested that changes be made and issued two lengthy reports showing why and how the rules should change. APRL recently issued comments on the current ABA proposal and suggested further changes, click here to view. A public hearing will be held in Vancouver, in conjunction with the ABA midyear meeting from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m., to obtain comments on the SCEPR proposals. SCEPR will accept written comments through March 1, 2018.

A big Thank You to APRL’s Public Statements Committee for its hard work on the NAAMP v. Howell and NAAMP v. Lynch amicus briefs.